


Secret Garden

by h_itoshi



Series: Love February 2021 (Rarepairs) [10]
Category: NEWS (Japan Band)
Genre: Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Psycho tego is my favourite tego, So obviously angst, rich people au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29614449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_itoshi/pseuds/h_itoshi
Summary: The first time Massu coughs is during tea time in the afternoon.Prompt: Hanahaki disease
Relationships: Masuda Takahisa/Tegoshi Yuya
Series: Love February 2021 (Rarepairs) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2149329
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Secret Garden

**Author's Note:**

> You know that really nasty hanahaki prompt about someone cultivating flowers from unrequited love in their garden?   
> I mean. Does it scream my name or does it scream my name?  
> And I figured who else would be That Bitch, so. Not such a rare pair I guess but I needed the person least likely to fall for him.

The first time Massu coughs is during tea time in the afternoon. They're sitting on the terrace and Tegoshi laughs at something he said. Not his controlled, polite, plastic laughter, but a genuine one that brings tears to his eyes and he has to hurry to regain his bearings before the staff returns with a plate of pastries.

Massu coughs, and he figures he just choked on something, so it doesn't bother him. Nothing special happens for the rest of the day.

Then it starts happening more frequently, at the weirdest times. Riding with Tegoshi through the forest and almost falling off his horse at a sudden stop after a race, and Tegoshi's horrified expression like Massu really scared him. Walking through the garden and the evening sun glowing golden in Tegoshi's blonde hair.

At first it's just once, twice, but then it starts becoming coughing fits that quickly pass.

It doesn't feel quite as innocent anymore when Massu coughs so much he has to leave the table at breakfast, feeling like he choked on something but he can't figure out what because he didn't eat anything yet.

He looks at himself in the mirror of the lower floor bathroom, sees the redness of his face and remnants of tears bordering his waterline, and he wonders if he's getting sick. It feels like something itches in his chest that makes his slow inhales a little scratchy. He must be getting sick.

When he returns to the table, Tegoshi's watching him intently, a sharp look that Massu's never experienced before taking in his still slightly irritated features. But it quickly vanishes, replaced with concern as Tegoshi wonders if he's okay.

Massu says he should probably stay in bed today rather than coming along to the beach, and Tegoshi lets him. Says he understands and Massu's health comes first.

But somehow, Massu feels uneasy about it, because that sharp look lingers behind his closed eyelids when he's back in bed with herbal tea stirred with honey. Tegoshi's never looked like that before.

He's been staying with Tegoshi for almost two years, after agreements were made above his head because he needed to learn to ride and dine and dance and all those other fancy things. His parents are new money and Tegoshi's born and bred old money. So to fit in within their new social circuits, they needed a new behaviour.

Massu's been here much longer than was intended. It was supposed to be a few months, but there's been excuse after excuse for him to stay, and he's barely spoken on the phone with his parents for the past eight months. Tegoshi insists he doesn't mind, that he likes having Massu around, almost seems more excited every time there's a delay and Massu needs to stay longer.

Gives Massu more of his attention, more affection and more time.

At first, Massu didn't really like him. He's flamboyant and spoiled and sometimes a hint of mean. Not to Massu, only to people below him, but Massu's seen the tendency and he doesn't like it. He used to think that Tegoshi wasn't actually capable of caring about people, only did what he'd been taught since he was a toddler. Acting polite, caring and interested.

But then, slowly, he started to change his mind.

Tegoshi is beautiful. It's not really an opinion, it's simple aesthetics. And the first time Massu saw him insecure about it, he started to warm up to Tegoshi. The more vulnerability he's seen, the more he's come to like the other man, despite the ignorant things that can come out of his mouth.

Massu stays in bed for the rest of the day without feeling worse.

Then Tegoshi comes to his room to check up on him, looking concerned and gentle, with a tray of Massu's favourite food.

And Massu gets another coughing fit, a disgusting one that lasts and scratches at his chest until something comes up that tastes vile. He feels gross and even though Tegoshi tries to take the tissue for him, Massu crumples it up around the yellowish mucus he just produced and throws it away.

Tegoshi leaves him alone, and the coughing eases when Massu can relax again.

The following days the same pattern occur, except it gets worse. There's a dull aching in Massu's chest that sometimes stings like somebody ran a needle through his lungs, and the coughs start to come even during the day rather than just morning and evening.

Tegoshi is very concerned about him, coming in to see him as often as he can, reads to him and tells him stories of what he did during the day. Massu appreciates it, but he thinks that socialising makes him tired, because he always feels worse when Tegoshi's there.

After ten days, he's getting so tired of staying in his room, and asks to be allowed outside. There's been a physcian to see him, an elderly man with the saddest eyes Massu's ever seen, and he agreed that fresh air would do Massu good.

Tegoshi hurries to arrange for Massu to be brought outside, with tea and a book and a longue chair, covered in blankets and scarves.

Massu's brought to the center of the garden, a thinly sculpted pavilion surrounded by lush flower bushes in different colours. Tegoshi loves this place, and used to bring Massu here a lot when he first came. Taught Massu about the different flowers planted between the open spaces with short stairs. There's a purple, a blue, a red and a green bush with massive flowers, and they're all different. Massu doesn't know much about flowers, but he knows the red are clinging roses and the green is a hydrangea. The other two, he doesn't know. But there's an empty space, in between the green and the red, just a lot of soil with nothing planted in there.

Massu asked Tegoshi about it, but he said that he wanted the right plant to put there. The last one had died and he wanted one just as special.

It's been almost two years and still nothing is planted.

Being outside doesn't help. Instead, the floral scents seem to disturb Massu's brain, he feels worried and anxious sitting there surrounded by rich flowers, and he can't explain why.

Being inside is better.

His cough gets even worse, so that he has troubles breathing at night, and he coughs up more disgusting things he doesn't know what it is, but he figures his lungs must be very sick.

The physician arranges for him to get access to oxygen, and Massu briefly hears talk of hospitals. He gets a catheter in his arm and someone gives him painkillers through it several times a day.

He's mostly zoned out, having dreams while being awake and it mixes with reality, pink clouds and rich flowers growing from his ceiling and he feels constantly lightheaded.

He thinks he's dying, but nobody wants to say it.

Then, one evening, he coughs so much he throws up, the contents somehow fluffy and it feels like a thousand tiny blades cut at his lungs when it happens. He gets a glance at what's on the floor next to his bed, and it looks like a couple crumpled yellow roses covered in slime.

He's hallucinating again, and his chest burns so much he fumbles for the oxygen and falls back onto his raised pillows.

There's a nurse tending to him day and night, and she rushes off to get the physician.

Tegoshi's with him when he arrives, and Massu sees a pink mist around him when he steps into the room this time, the physician seeming so grimly grey next to him.

Tegoshi rushes to his side, but only to stare at the floor where Massu threw up, and Massu wishes he wouldn't. It's disgusting.

Tegoshi looks up slowly, a sharp grin on his face and his eyes are piercingly black, but the mist is still there, like he's a demon shrouded in cotton candy.

“ _Finally_ ,” Tegoshi says, sounding so victorious it's like a war just ended, and Massu doesn't understand. Doesn't even know if this is happening or if he's dreaming.

Tegoshi turns to the doctor, voice harsh, as it is when he gives orders he knows won't be appreciated.

“Cut it out of him.”

Massu sees the doctor's sad eyes as he sits down next to Massu's bed with a big syringe with milk white liquid. He seems even sadder than usual.

The last thing Massu's sees is a tear rolling down the physician's wrinkly cheek as he starts to push the liquid into Massu's arm.

~*~

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to write half of the Love February prompts, which means four each week. And I decided that it was a good time to try out stuff I've been meaning to write but never did, so please allow me to rename it my personal Rarepair February. If you like something, please let me know and maybe I could expand on that pair lol


End file.
